Hansenula polymorpha gene coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent alpha-1,3-mannosyltransferase and process for the production of recombinant glycoproteins with Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain deficient in the same gene

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a process for producing a human-type glycoprotein having reduced glycosylation by genetically manipulating an enzyme involved in glycosylation using a  Hansenula polymorpha  system. In detail, the present invention relates to a process for producing a human-type glycoprotein by identifying a dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent ¥á-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene from  H. polymorpha , constructing a  H. polymorpha  mutant strain producing a glycoprotein exhibiting reduced glycosylation by disrupting the identified gene, and subjecting the mutant strain to various genetic manipulations for the synthesis of human-type glycan.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a process for producing a glycoprotein having a minimal core backbone of various human-type N-glycans, by genetically manipulating enzymes participating in glycosylation in Hansenula polymorpha.

BACKGROUND ART

Upon large-scale expression of therapeutic proteins, according to characteristics of host cells or target proteins, a target protein may vary in expression level, water solubility, expression sites, modification, and the like. Thus, the most suitable expression system for a target protein must be selected to establish an effective production system. Glycoproteins currently constitute about 70% of the recombinant therapeutic protein market, playing a leading role in the market. The components and structure of N-linked sugar moieties, which are attached to asparagine residues of glycoproteins, have been found to be major factors in determining the efficacy and stability of glycoproteins (Koury, M., Trends Biotechnol. 21, 462-464 (2003)). Animal cell culture technologies, which are capable of producing glycoproteins containing sugar moieties most similar to human's, are currently leading the market. However, there are several drawbacks to animal cell culture systems, which include low yield, high cost due to expensive culture media, risk of infection with viruses and prions, and a long period of time required to establish stable cell lines. Thus, animal cell culture systems have limited application in recombinant glycoprotein production.

As an alternative to animal cell culture systems, yeast expression systems have some advantages of being cost-effective, rapidly growing to high cell density in chemically defined medium, being easily genetically engineered, producing high yield of recombinant proteins, having no risk of infection with human or animal pathogens, and ensuring easy protein recovery. Moreover, as lower eukaryotes, yeasts share the early stages of the N-linked oligosaccharide of higher animal cells, and so could be utilized to produce several glycoproteins with therapeutic purpose. However, glycoproteins produced from yeast expression systems contain nonhuman N-glycans of the high mannose type, which are immunogenic in humans and thus of limited therapeutic value. In particular, this yeast-specific outer chain glycosylation of the high mannose type, denoted hyperglycosylation, generates heterogeneous recombinant protein products, which may make the protein purification complicated or difficult. Further, the specific activity of hyperglycosylated enzymes may be lowered due to the increased carbohydrate level (Bekkers et al., Biochem. Biophy. Acta. 1089, 345-351 (1991)).

To solve the above problems, there is a need for glycoengineering, by which the yeast glycosylation pathway is remodeled to express glycoproteins having glycan structure similar to that of human glycoproteins. Glycoengineering was first applied to the traditional yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae which has the heavily hypermannosylated N-glycan structure composed of additional to 200 mannose residues attached to the core oligosaccharide and decorated with the terminal α-1,3-linked mannoses highly immunogenic when injected to human body. Compared to S. cerevisiae, the methylotrophic yeasts, Hansenula polymorpha and Pichia pastoris, are shown to produce N-linked glycans with shorter mannose outer chains and no α-1,3-linked terminal mannose (Kim et al., Glycobiol. 14, 243-251 (2004)). Therefore, the methylotrophic yeasts are considered superior expression hosts to the traditional yeast, S. cerevisiae, for the production of glycoproteins with therapeutic value. In addition, their excellent capacity in secreting recombinant proteins into the medium makes these methylotrophic yeasts favorable host systems for secretory protein production in the economical perspects.

H. polymorpha is a well known host for the production of recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, which has been approved for therapeutic use and already available on the market. At present, other H. polymorpha-derived therapeutic recombinant proteins, such hirudin, elafin, and insulin, are launched in the market, demonstrating high potential of H. polymorpha as a practical host for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins (Kang and Gellissen, Production of Recombinant proteins. Ed. G. Gellissen, pp. 111-136 (2005)) However, technologies involving the remodeling of the yeast glycosylation pathway for the production of glycoproteins having human-type glycans have been mainly developed in S. cerevisiae, which is a well-characterized yeast, and P. pastoris, based on which a protein expression system is available (WO0114522, WO0200879, WO04003194, US2005/0170452, Wildt and Gerngross, Nature Rev. Microbiol. 3, 119-128 (2005)). In contrast, studies employing H. polymorpha in glycoengineering have seldom been conducted.

As an example of studies employing H. polymorpha in glycoengineering, the present inventors, prior to the present invention, cloned HpOCH1 and HpOCH2 genes, which play critical roles in the outer chain synthesis of H. polymorpha, and developed a process for producing a recombinant glycoprotein having a non-hyperglycosylated glycan structure using mutant strains having a disruption in any one of the genes (Korean Pat. Application No. 2002-37717 and No. 2004-6352, PCT Application PCT/KR2004/001819). However, a trimannose core structure containing three mannoses and two N-acetylglucosamine(Man₃GlcNAc₂), which is the minimal common backbone of N-glycans, should be made in order to express glycoproteins having human compatible hybrid- and complex-type glycans.

In this regard, the present inventors identified a novel gene (HpALG3) coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase, which is a key enzyme involved in the early stages of lipid-linked oligosaccharide biosynthesis prior to oligosaccharide addition to a glycoprotein, from the methylotrophic yeast H. polymorpha, and found that the manipulation of the gene alone or in combination of one or more genes, each coding for an enzyme involved in glycosylation, enables various manipulation of the glycosylation process of H. polymorpha and the preparation of glycoproteins having human-type glycans, thus leading to the present invention.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a protein having the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID No. 2, or 90% or higher homology therewith, and exhibiting dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase activity.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a nucleic acid coding for the protein, represented by SEQ ID No: 1.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a recombinant vector comprising the nucleic acid.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a H. polymorpha mutant strain which is deficient in a gene coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase (HpALG3) and produces a glycoprotein having reduced glycosylation.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a H. polymorpha mutant strain which is deficient in (a) a dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene and (b) one or more genes selected from among α-1,6-mannosyltransferase and α-1,2-mannosyltransferase genes.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a H. polymorpha mutant strain which is deficient in (a) a dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene and (b) one or more genes selected from among α-1,6-mannosyltransferase and α-1,2-mannosyltransferase genes; and (c) overexpresses one or more glycan modifying enzymes.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing a glycoprotein with human-type glycans, comprising using the mutant strains.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a glycoprotein with human-type glycans prepared according to the process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1) and deduced amino acid sequences (SEQ ID NO:1) of the H. polymorpha ALG3 (HpALG3) gene, wherein four predicted transmembrane spanning regions are underlined;

FIG. 2 shows a multiple alignment of amino acid sequences of Alg3 protein analogues of H. polymorpha and other yeast strains (panel A), S. pombe, Schizoaccharmoyes pombe Alg3 protein (SEQ ID NO:13); H. polymorpha, Hansenula polymorpha Alg3 protein (SEQ ID NO:14); H. sapiens, Homo sapiens Alg3 protein (SEQ ID NO:15); P. pastoris, Pichia pastoris Alg3 protein (SEQ ID NO: 1; S. cerevisiae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Alg3 protein fSEQ ID NO: 17). Amino acid sequence identities and similarities between H. polymorpha Alg3 protein and Alg3 proteins from other yeast strains and humans were also presented (panel B);

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the disruption strategy of the H. polymorpha HpALG3 gene using fusion-PCR and in vivo DNA recombination;

FIG. 4 is a graph showing growth properties of an H. polymorpha ALG3 deletion mutant strain (HPalg3Δ) and its wild type, wherein cultivation was carried out with YPD broth (1% yeast extract, 2% Bacto-peptone, 2% dextrose) at 37° C. with agitation;

FIG. 5 shows the growth properties of an Hpalg3Δ mutant strain. Cultures of an H. polymorpha wild type and the Hpalg3Δmutant strain, which had reached an exponential growth phase (OD₆₀₀=1), were 10-fold serially diluted, and 3 μl of each dilution was spotted on a designated agar plate and incubated further for two days (A: YPD medium at 37° C.; B: YPD medium at 45° C.; C: YPD medium supplemented with 0.4% sodium deoxycholate; D: YPD medium supplemented with 40 μg/ml hygromycine B; E: YPD medium supplemented with 7 mg/ml Calcofluor white; all plates except for B were incubated at 37° C.);

FIG. 6 shows the results of HPLC analysis elucidating the structures of glycans attached to the Yps1 protein expressed in H. polymorpha wild-type and mutant strains (panels A and D: glycan profiles of the Yps1 protein secreted from H. polymorpha wild-type and Hpalg3Δ mutant strains, respectively; panels B and E: their glycan profiles after the treatment with exogenously added α-1,2-mannosidase; panels C and F: their glycan profiles after treatment with exogenously added α-1,2-mannosidase and α-1,6-mannosidase);

FIG. 7 shows the results of HPLC analysis elucidating glycan structures of a glycoprotein produced from Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain and a glycoengineered strain thereof (A: glycan profiles of H. polymorpha wild-type strain; B: glycan profiles of Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain; C: glycan profiles of a recombinant mutant strain engineered with the ER-targeting expression of Aspergillus saitoi α-1,2-mannosidase (MsdS) in the H. polymorpha double deletion background (Hpoch2Δalg3Δ)).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the technology of glycosylation pathway reconstruction of H. polymorpha to produce glycoprotein containing human-type glycan structure, which would be valuable for therapeutic purpose.

In order to develop a glyco-engineered strain, it is effective to reconstruct early glycosylation pathway of H. polymorpha by manipulating an enzyme acting on the early stages of oligosaccharide formation. In all eukaryotes, the early biosynthesis process of N-glycans, which occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), would be divided into two major phases. First, enzymes at the ER membrane sequentially add sugars to a lipid carrier called as dolichyl phosphate, to synthesize the initial oligosaccharide, Glc₃Man₉GlcNAc₂. The initial oligosaccharide is transferred to an appropriate asparagine residue of a nascent protein in the ER, and undergoes trimming steps to form the core oligosaccharide structure, Man₈GlcNAc₂, as attached to the glycoprotein, which is then transported to the Golgi apparatus.

The present inventors identified the HpALG3 gene coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase, which is a key enzyme of the early lipid-linked oligosaccharide biosynthesis occurring in the ER membrane, in H. polymorpha. The present inventors are also the first to identify the function of gene product as dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase in H. polymorpha. The present inventors then constructed a mutant strain (Hpalg3Δ) having a disruption in a gene coding for the enzyme, and found that the mutant strain of H. polymorpha effectively reduced the glycosylation of glycoproteins without any alteration in growth phenotypes. Further, a glycoengineered strain was developed to effectively produce a glycoprotein having the trimannose core oligosaccharide, which is the minimal core backbone of various human-type N-glycans. In addition, the present inventors found that, compared to a P. pastoris alg3Δ mutant strain (R Davidson et al., Glycobiol. 14, 399-407, (2004)), the H. polymorpha alg3Δmutant strain provides a glycan structure consisting of fewer mannose residues and simpler and more uniform glycan profiling. This suggests that H. polymorpha is thus a more suitable host for the production of glycoproteins with human-type glycans.

The term “glycoprotein”, as used herein, refers to a protein that is glycosylated on one or more asparagines residues or one or more serine or threonine residues, or is glycosylated on asparagine and serine or threonine residues. The term “reduced glycosylation”, as used herein, means that when a glycoprotein is expressed in a methylotrophic yeast strain, it has a carbohydrate moiety having a reduced size, particularly fewer mannose residues, in comparison with the case of being expressed in a wild-type methylotrophic yeast.

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a protein having the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID No. 2 or 90% or higher homology therewith and exhibiting dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase activity.

The present inventors found that dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase from H. polymorpha has the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID No. 2. Dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase, having a wild-type sequence as well as proteins having 90% or higher homology with the wild-type sequence, as long as they have the enzyme activity, are included within the scope of the present invention.

In the present invention, the term “homology”, as used for a dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene derived from H. polymorpha, is intended to indicate the degree of similarity to the amino acid sequence of a wild type, and includes an amino acid sequence having an identity of preferably 75% or higher, more preferably 85% or higher, even more preferably 90% or higher, and most preferably 95% or higher, with the amino acid sequence coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase according to the present invention. This homology comparison may be performed manually or by using a commercially available comparison program. A commercially available computer program may express homology between two or more sequences in a percentage, and a homology (%) may be calculated for adjacent sequences.

In another aspect, the present invention relates to a nucleic acid coding for the protein.

The nucleic acid coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase from H. polymorpha preferably has the nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID No. 1. The present inventors registered the H. polymorpha-derived dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase (HpALG3) gene at GenBank under accession number DQ193533. Also, the present inventors constructed a recombinant vector containing the gene, pGEM-T Easy-HpALG3, and introduced the vector into Escherichia coli JM109 by transformation. The resulting transformant was deposited at KCTC (Korean Collection for Type Cultures; Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology(KRIBB), 52, Oun-dong, Yusong-ku, Taejon, Korea) on Aug. 17, 2005, and assigned accession number KCTC 10835BP.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a recombinant vector which comprises a nucleic acid coding for a protein having the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID No. 2 or 90% or higher homology therewith and exhibiting dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase activity.

The recombinant vector preferably comprises a nucleic acid coding for a protein having the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID No. 2 or 90% or higher homology therewith and exhibiting dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase activity.

The term “vector”, as used herein, refers to a means by which DNA is introduced into a host cell. The vector includes all ordinary vectors such as plasmid vectors, cosmid vectors, bacteriophage vectors, and viral vectors.

A suitable vector includes expression regulatory elements, such as a promoter, a start codon, a stop codon, a polyadenylation signal, and an enhancer, as well as signal sequences or leader sequences for membrane targeting or secretion, and may vary according to the intended use.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a host cell transformed with the recombinant vector, and preferably provides a transformed host cell deposited under accession number KCTC 10835BP.

In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a H. polymorpha mutant strain which is deficient in a gene coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase and produces a glycoprotein exhibiting reduced glycosylation.

In detail, the present inventors obtained the gene (HpALG3) coding for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase, which plays a critical role in the core oligosaccharide biosynthesis, using PCR, and then disrupted the HpALG3 gene using in vivo DNA recombination technique, thereby constructing a H. polymorpha mutant strain (Hpalg3Δ) producing a glycoprotein exhibiting reduced glycosylation.

The specific inactivation of a target gene on the genome may be achieved using a method established in the art, and the method is not particularly limited. The present inventors used homologous recombination in order to make a deletion specific for dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene. H. polymorpha was transformed with a vector containing a selection marker between N-terminal and C-terminal fragments of the gene encoding dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase to induce a homologous recombination between the genome and the vector. Selection markers useful in the present invention are not particularly limited, but include markers providing selectable phenotypes, such as drug resistance, auxotropy, resistance to cytotoxic agents, or surface protein expression. In the practice of the present invention, URA3 was used as a selection marker.

A Hansenula polymorpha alg3Δ mutant strain, which is deficient in the dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene according to the method, expressed a glycoprotein having oligosaccharides (Man₅₋₈GlcNAc₂), which contains 5 to 8 mannose residues. The mannose residues in the oligosaccharide were remarkably reduced in comparison with 7 to 12 mannose residues of oligosaccharides derived from the H. polymorpha wild type. In addition, when the oligosaccharides obtained from the Hpalg3Δ mutant strain was treated with α-1,2-mannosidase and then α-1,6-mannosidase, they were converted to have a trimannose core oligosaccharide structure (Man₃GlcNAc₂), which is the minimal core backbone of human-type glycan structures. In comparison, P. pastoris alg3Δmutant strain expresses a glycoprotein having oligosaccharides (Hex₆₋₁₅GlcNAc₂), which contains 6 to 15 hexoses including mannose, some of the hexoses not being removed by mannosidase (Davidson et al., Glycobiol. 14, 399-407, (2004)). These indicate that H. polymorpha is more suitable as a strain in glycoengineering for the production of human hybrid-type and complex-type glycoproteins.

The term “human complex-type”, as used herein, indicates all structures in which N-acetylglucosamine, galactose, and sialic acid are added successively to anyone of two terminal mannose residues of the trimannose core oligosaccharide, resulting in the formation of a bi- or more antennary structure. The term “human hybrid-type”, as used herein, refers to a structure in which one or more antennas stretched from the trimannose core oligosaccharide are elongated or terminated only with mannose residues, and the remaining antennas have the ordered assembly of N-acetylglucosamine, galactose, and sialic acid.

The Hpalg3Δ mutant strain may be further manipulated to have various human-type glycan structures by glycosylation pathway remodeling.

As an attempt, an additional manipulation is possible in another gene involved in glycosylation in the background of Hpalg3Δ mutant strain. For example, a genetic deficit may be made in an α-1,6-mannosyltransferase gene, an α-1,2-mannosyltransferase gene, or both genes. In a detailed practice of the present invention, an Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deletion mutant strain, which is deficient in both HpOCH2 (encoding α-1,6-mannosyltransferase), and HpALG3, was constructed. The Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deletion mutant strain was found to have a glycoprotein having oligosaccharides (Man₄₋₆GlcNAc₂) with remarkably reduced mannose residues, that is, 4 to 6 mannose residues (panel B, FIG. 7).

In addition, the mutant strain may be transformed with an expression vector capable of expressing one or more proteins having enzyme activity involved in oligosaccharide modification in order to effectively synthesize human-type glycans. The trimannose core oligosaccharide (Man₃GlcNAc₂) may be generated by introducing heterologous genes coding for enzymes which include, but are not limited to, α-1,2-mannosidase, mannosidase IA, mannosidase IB, mannosidase IC, and mannosidase II, and may also be made with a gene or a fragment thereof having cleavage activity for mannose residues. In a detailed practice of the present invention, when α-1,2-mannosidase was expressed in the Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deletion mutant strain, a recombinant glycoprotein having the trimannose core oligosaccharide was produced (panel C, FIG. 7). Various human hybrid-type and complex-type glycoproteins may be produced by adding N-acetylglucosamine, galactose, fucose, sialic acid, and the like to the trimannose core oligosaccharide, which is the common core backbone of human-type glycans.

Thus, N-acetylglucosamine may be added with N-acetyl glucosaminyltransferase I, N-acetyl glucosaminyltransferase II, and the like, galactose with galactosyltransferase, sialic acid with sialyltransferase, and fucose with fucosyltransferase. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples, and various genes capable of leading to oligosaccharide modification may be also used. Also, genes of biosynthetic pathways of substrates of the enzymes, such as UDP-acetylglucosamine, UDP-glactose and CMP-sialic acid, and genes encoding transporters transporting the substrates to the Golgi apparatus or ER are included. Their fragment sequences as well as the whole genes described above can be used as far as they encode functional regions showing their intrinsic activities.

In still another aspect, the present invention relates to processes for preparing a recombinant glycoprotein with human-type glycans, comprising using the H. polymorpha ALG3 deficient mutant strain.

Mutant strains suitable for use in the preparation of glycoproteins with human-type glycans include all types of the aforementioned mutant strains. A recombinant glycoprotein having human hybrid-type or complex-type glycans may be prepared using mutant strains which are constructed by expressing one or more genes encoding glycan modifying enzymes (glycosyltransferase and glycosidase) and/or genes involved in the metabolism of substrates of the enzymes in the Hpalg3Δ or Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain of the present invention.

In order to create complex glycan structures such as a human hybrid type or complex type, manipulation to add specific sugars may be performed. For example, sugars commonly found in human glycoproteins, such as sialic acid, galactose, and fucose, are generally lacking in the yeast system. Sialic acid, galactose, fucose, and the like may be added to glycoproteins using one or more genes encoding glycosyltransferases and genes involved in the metabolism of their substrates, thereby producing various human-type glycoproteins which are similar to those of human cells.

A produced glycoprotein may be purified by an ordinary method, and the purification protocol may be determined according to the properties of the specific protein to be purified. This determination is considered an ordinary skill to those skilled in the art. For example, a target protein may be purified by a typical isolation technique, such as precipitation, immunoadsorption, fractionization or various chromatographic methods.

Glycoproteins capable of being produced according to the present invention are exemplified by cytokines (e.g., EPO, interferon-α, interferon-β, interferon-γ, G-CSF, etc.), clotting factors (e.g., VIII factor, IX factor, human protein C), antibodies for therapeutic use (e.g., immunoglobulins, Fab, double specific antibodies, monovalent antibodies, diabody, etc.) and Fc fusion proteins, therapeutic enzymes (e.g., glucocerebrosidase, α-galactosidase, α-L-iduronidase, α-glucosidase, etc.), endothelial growth factor, growth hormone releasing factor, Typanosoma cruzi trans-sialidase, HIV envelope protein, influenza virus A hemagglutinin, influenza neuraminidase, bovine enterokinase activator, bovine herpes virus type-1 glycoprotein D, human angiostatin, human B7-1, B7-2 and B-7 receptor CTLA-4, human tissue factor, growth factors (e.g., platelet-derived growth factor), human α-antitrypsin, tissue plasminogen activator, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, urokinase, plasminogen, and thrombin.

In still another aspect, the present invention relates to various human-derived glycoproteins prepared using the H. polymorpha mutant strain of the present invention.

Since glycoproteins prepared according to the present process, which have human-type glycans, are less immunogenic in humans, and are identical or similar to proteins produced in humans with respect to solubility, sensitivity to proteases, trafficking, transport, secretion, recognition by other proteins or factors, and the like, they may be suitable for therapeutic and/or diagnostic uses.

A better understanding of the present invention may be obtained through the following examples which are set forth to illustrate, but are not to be construed as the limit of the present invention.

EXAMPLE 1 Obtainment and Amino Acid Sequence Analysis of Hansenula polymorpha ALG3 Gene

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out using chromosomal DNA, which was extracted from H. polymorpha DL-1 strain (Levine and Cooney, Appl. Microbiol., 26, 982-990, (1973)), as a template and a pair of primers (AL3-N and AL3-C, Table 1). As a result, an obtained DNA fragment of 1.36 kb was sequenced, and subjected to amino acid sequence analysis.

An open reading frame designated as HpALG3, is found to be 1,362 by in size and encodes a protein consisting of 454 amino acid residues. The HpAlg3 protein had four putative transmembrane spanning regions on its amino acid sequence, and was thus considered to be a membrane protein (FIG. 1). In FIG. 1, the four putative transmembrane spanning regions are underlined at amino acid residues from 42 to 58, from 176 to 192, from 221 to 237, and from 425 to 441. The HpAlg3 protein exhibited a 30% identity and a 44% similarity with human (Homo sapiens) Alg3 protein, and also had the following identities and similarities with other yeasts: 36% identity and 54% similarity with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 29% identity and 45% similarity with Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and 42% identity and 64% similarity with Pichia pastoris. The HpAlg3 protein was found to be closest to the Alg3 protein of P. pastoris (FIG. 2).

TABLE 1 Primer Sequences AL3-N 5′-ATGGCAGATGCAAATGCGG-3′ AL3-C 5′-TTATTCCTGTTTGGGTTTGCCG-3′ AL3N-S 5′-GTGTCGCTGCTCAACCCGGA-3′ AL3N-A 5′-AGCTCGGTACCCGGGGATCCTGCCATCTCGTACGCTCGT G-3′ AL3C-S 5′-GCACATCCCCCTTTCGCCAGGTCGCAGCTCCGGTGTGGC T-3′ AL3C-A 5′-GACGGCCGTCGAGTCCGACA-3′ UN-S 5′-GGATCCCCGGGTACCGAGCT-3′ UN-A 5′-CACCGGTAGCTAATGATCCC-3′ UC-S 5′-CGAACATCCAAGTGGGCCGA-3′ UC-A 5′-CTGGCGAAAGGGGGATGTGC-3′

EXAMPLE 2 Construction of HpALG3 Gene-Deficient Strain and Analysis of Characteristics of the Strain

In order to construct a mutant strain disrupted in the HpALG3 gene, gene disruption was performed by a combination of fusion PCR with the primers (primers used in PCR for cloning and disruption of the HpALG3 gene) listed in Table 1 and in vivo homologous recombination (Oldenburg et al., Nucleic Acid Res., 25, 451, (1997)). Primary PCR were carried out with four pairs of primers to amplify 5′-end and 3′-end regions of the URA3 gene (UN-S and UN-A primers for 5′-end region, UC-S and UC-A primers for 3′-end region) and the HpALG3 gene (AL3N-S and AL3N-A primers for 5′-end fragment, AL3C-S and AL3C-A primers for 3′-end fragment). Secondary fusion PCR were then carried out to link the 5′-end fragment of the HpALG3 gene to the 5′ region of the URA3 gene (using a pair of AL3N-S and UN-A primers) and to link the 3′ region of the URA3 gene to the 3′-end fragment of the HpALG3 gene (using a pair of UC-S and AL3C-A primers). Then, the resulting two DNA fragments were introduced into yeast cells, and transformants in which the HpALG3 gene was disrupted by in vivo recombination were selected (FIG. 3). Primarily, using an URA3 selection marker, transformants grown in a minimum medium lacking uracil were selected. Then, amplified DNA fragments produced by PCR were examined to verify whether they differed from those of a wild-type strain, thereby selecting an H. polymorpha mutant strain with the deletion of HpALG3, Hpalg3Δ (leu2; alg3::URA3). The Hpalg3Δ mutant strain, deleted in the HpALG3 gene, was deposited at KCTC (Korean Collection for Type Cultures; KRIBB, 52, Oun-dong, Yusong-ku, Taejon, Korea) on Oct. 27, 2005, and assigned accession number KCTC 10867BP. The obtained Hpalg3Δ strain was evaluated for growth properties. The Hpalg3Δ strain did not exhibit growth inhibition caused by the sensitivity to temperature, antibiotics such as hygromycin B, calcofluor white and sodium deoxycholate, such growth inhibition being common in yeast mutant strains having a defect in oligosaccharide chain synthesis (FIGS. 4 and 5). Conclusively, the Hpalg3Δ strain had growth properties similar to those of the wild type.

EXAMPLE 3 Structural Analysis of N-Glycans Assembled on a Glycoprotein Produced from the Hpalg3Δ Mutant

To analyze the N-glycan structures of a glycoprotein synthesized in the Hpalg3Δ mutant prepared in Example 2, an H. polymorpha glycoprotein, yapsin 1 (Yps1p), was expressed in a secreted form in the H. polymorpha wild-type and Hpalg3Δ mutant strains. The glycoprotein, Yps1p, has four putative amino acid sequences for N-linked glycosylation. The H. polymorpha wild-type and Hpalg3Δ mutant strains were individually transformed with a pDLMOX-YPS1 (H) vector expressing Yps1p tagged with six-histidine residues under the MOX promoter (Y J Kim, Biosynthesis and Maturation of Yapsins in the Methylotropic Yeast Hansenula polymorpha, master's thesis, National Chungnam University, Korea (2005)). The transformants were grown in YPD medium and transferred to YPM medium (1% yeast extract, 2% Bacto-peptone, 2% methanol) to induce the expression of Yps1p. The collected culture medium, which contains secreted Yps1p protein, was passed through a nickel column to selectively isolate only Yps1p tagged with six histidines at the C-terminal end. The isolated recombinant his-tagged Yps1p was treated with PNGase F to detach attached glycans therefrom. Then, the released glycans were labelled with 2-iminopyridine (2-PA) and subjected to HPLC analysis. As shown in panel A of FIG. 6, oligosaccharides attached to the wild type-derived Yps1p were found to have various size distributions ranging from 7 to 12 mannose residues (Man₇₋₁₂GlcNAc₂). In contrast, oligosaccharides profile of Hpalg3Δ-derived Yps1p (panel D of FIG. 6) showed that the major peak of Man₅GlcNAc₂ containing 5 mannose residues was detected together with smaller peaks of oligosaccharides(Man₆₋₈GlcNAc₂) containing 6 to 8 mannose residues. The oligosaccharides containing 2 to 4 fewer mannose residues in the Hpalg3Δ mutant strain than in the wild-type strain are considered to result from the loss of dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase activity by disrupting the HpALG3 gene. It means that the elaboration process of dolichyl phosphate-linked oligosaccharide is blocked at the initial mannosylation step mediated by HpAlg3 protein. Therefore, Glc₃Man₅GlcNAc₂, instead of Glc₃Man₉GlcNAc₂, might be transferred to nascent proteins and the resulting glycoproteins can be further processed in ER and Golgi.

The oligosaccharides released from Yps1p were further analyzed by the sequential treatment of α-1,2-mannosidase and α-1,6-mannosidase to investigate their profiles and linkages in detail. The panel B of FIG. 6 indicates that the oligosaccharides synthesized in the wild-type strain were converted to oligonucleotides (Man₅₋₆GlcNAc₂) consisting of five or six mannose residues after α-1,2-mannosidase treatment. All of them were then converted to oligosaccharides consisting of five mannose residues by α-1,6-mannosidase treatment (panel C, FIG. 6). In contrast, oligosaccharides synthesized in the Hpalg3Δ mutant strain were converted to oligonucleotides (Man₃₋₄GlcNAc₂) containing three or four mannose residues after α-1,2-mannosidase treatment (panel E, FIG. 6), and all of them were then converted to the trimannose core oligosaccharide (Man₃GlcNAc₂) containing three mannose residues by α-1,6-mannosidase treatment (panel F, FIG. 6). This trimannose core oligosaccharide is the minimal core backbone of human-type glycans which can be converted to various human glycans after the successive addition of N-acetylglucosamine, galactose and sialic acid. Taken together, since the HpALG3 gene product has dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase activity, and the Hpalg3Δ mutant strain is blocked in the early stage of the lipid-linked oligosaccharide biosynthesis, the present mutant strain is useful in the synthesis of the trimannose core oligosaccharide, which is the minimal core backbone of human-type glycans.

EXAMPLE 4 Glycoengineering Using H. polymorpha Hpoch2Δalg3Δ Double-Deficient Mutant Strain

The present inventors, prior to the present invention, successfully restricted the yeast-specific outer chain synthesis in the glycosylation process of H. polymorpha using a mutant strain deficient in the HpOCH2 gene encoding α-1,6-mannosyltransferase (Korean Pat. Application No. 2004-6352; PCT Application PCT/KR2004/001819). The present inventors constructed a further improved mutant strain, that is, an H. polymorpha Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain, by disrupting the dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase gene in the HpOCH2 gene-deficient mutant strain as a parent strain using fusion PCR and in vivo DNA recombination, which are described in Example 2. The H. polymorpha Hpoch2Δalg3Δ mutant strain, deleted in both HpALG3 and HpOCH2 genes, was deposited at KCTC (Korean Collection for Type Cultures; KRIBB, 52, Oun-dong, Yusong-ku, Taejon, Korea) on Oct. 27, 2005, and assigned accession number KCTC 10868BP. Thereafter, according to the method described in Example 3, the yapsin 1 gene was introduced to express the Yps1p protein in a secreted form, the Yps1p protein was purified, and oligosaccharides released from the proteins were recovered, fluorescent-labeled, and subjected to HPLC analysis. Oligosaccharides of the wild-type strain were found to contain 7 to 12 mannose residues (panel A, FIG. 7). In contrast, a glycoprotein synthesized in the Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain had oligosaccharides remarkably reduced in length (Man₄₋₆GlcNAc₂), containing 4, 5 and 6 mannose residues (panel B, FIG. 7).

In addition, in order to obtain an H. polymorpha strain synthesizing the trimannose core oligosaccharide, which is the minimal common backbone for all human-type N-glycan biosynthesis, the present inventors employed a method of expressing A. saitoi α-1,2-mannosidase in the ER of H. polymorpha, the method being described in a previous study (Chiba et al., J. Biol. Chem., 273, 26298-26304, (1998)) carried out with the traditional yeast S. cerevisiae. The Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain was transformed with a vector carrying the α-1,2-mannosidase gene expression cassette, pDUMOX-MsdS(HA-HDEL), (Kim et al. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 6261-6272 (2006)), thereby yielding a glycoengineered recombinant strain, Hpoch2Δalg3Δ-MsdSp. In order to determine whether the glycoengineered H. polymorpha strain (Hpoch2Δalg3Δ-MsdSp) actually synthesizes the trimannose core oligosaccharide (Man₃GlcNAc₂), the recombinant HpYps1p protein was expressed in the Hpoch2Δalg3Δ-MsdSp strain and its oligosaccharide profile was then analyzed according to the method described in Example 3. Panel C of FIG. 7 shows that the glycoengineered recombinant strain mostly synthesize the trimannose core oligosaccharide (Man₃GlcNAc₂) containing three mannose residues. Since it is the minimal core backbone for human-type glycoprotein production, the present strain may be applied usefully in glycoengineering for human-type oligosaccharide-attached glycoproteins.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The high value-added recombinant therapeutic glycoproteins are leading the biologics market, and there is thus a rapid increase in market demand for expression systems for producing high quality therapeutic glycoproteins at high efficiency. Since the methylotrophic yeast H. polymorpha has been approved worldwide as a host system for the mass production of recombinant hepatitis B vaccines, it is highlighted as preferable recombinant protein expression system for recombinant protein therapeutics. However, H. polymorpha has not been widely used especially for therapeutic glycoproteins due to its yeast-specific high-mannose oligosaccharide structure. As described in the above Examples, the present invention showed that the Hpalg3Δ mutant strain deficient in the HpALG3 gene and the Hpoch2Δalg3Δ double-deficient mutant strain synthesized oligosaccharides having remarkably reduced mannose residues. Moreover, the oligosaccharides can be readily converted to the trimannose core oligosaccharide (Man₃GlcNAc₂), which is the minimal backbone of human-type oligosaccharides, through α-1,2-mannosidase expression. Thus, the above mutants or mutants having a remodeled oligosaccharide modification process enable the production of glycoproteins in a form having glycan structures closer to human hybrid-type and complex-type glycan structures compared to wild-type yeast strains. That is, the present invention provides versatile H. polymorpha systems capable of mass producing high quality therapeutic glycoproteins at high efficiency by developing a fundamental host to be designed for the production of human-derived therapeutic glycoproteins. 

1. An isolated Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain which is deficient in a gene coding for the diolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependant α-1,3-mannosyltransferase of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the mutant strain is Hpalg3Δ deposited under accession number KCTC 106867BP, or Hpoch2Δalg3Δ deposited under accession number KCTC 10868BP.
 2. An isolated Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain wherein said mutant strain is: (i) Hpalg3Δ deposited under accession number KCTC 10867BP which has been further modified to be deficient in one or more genes encoding proteins selected from the group consisting of α-1,6-mannosyltransferase and α-1,2-mannosyltransferase; or (ii) Hpoch2Δalg3Δ deposited under accession KCTC 10868BP which has been further modified to be deficient in one or more genes encoding proteins selected from the group consisting of α-1,6-mannosyltransferase and α-1,2-mannosyltransferase.
 3. An isolated Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain wherein said mutant strain is: (i) Hpalg3Δ deposited under accession number KCTC 10867BP which has been further modified to increase expression of one or more glycan modifying enzymes selected from the group consisting of α-1,2-mannosidase, mannosidase IA, mannosidase IB, mannosidase IC, mannosidase II, N-acetyl glucosaminyltransferase I, N-acetyl glucosaminyltransferase II, galactosyltransferase, sialyltransferase and fucosyltransferase compared to expression of said enzymes in the corresponding unmodified Hpalg3Δ strain; or (ii) Hpoch2Δalg3Δ deposited under accession number KCTC 10868BP which has been further modified to increase expression of one or more glycan modifying enzymes selected from the group consisting of α-1,2-mannosidase, mannosidase IA, mannosidase IB, mannosidase IC, mannosidase II, N-acetyl glucosaminyltransferase I, N-acetyl glucosaminyltransferase II, galactosyltransferase, sialyltransferase and fucosyltransferase compared to expression of said enzymes in the corresponding unmodified Hpoch2Δalg3Δ strain.
 4. The isolated Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain according to claim 1, wherein the deficiency of the gene is achieved by homologous recombination or targeted gene disruption.
 5. The isolated Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain according to claim 3, wherein the increase of expression of said enzymes is achieved by transforming Hansenula polymorpha with an expression vector capable of expressing said enzymes.
 6. The isolated Hansenula polymorpha mutant strain according to claim 1, which is achieved by transforming Hansenula polymorpha with a vector containing a nucleic acid encoding a selection marker, wherein said nucleic acid is between polynucleotides encoding N-terminal and C-terminal fragments of the gene encoding dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent α-1,3-mannosyltransferase of SEQ ID NO:
 2. 